Since I’m not in the habit of reading the match reports for most MLS reserve matches, we missed Johann Smith’s appearance in for the New York Red Bulls reserves in a 2-0 loss to Philadelphia in late July. Smith played another ninety minutes for the reserve Bulls in a 3-1 loss to D.C. United yesterday, with the official report from the Red Bulls noting that he and fellow trialist Lloyd Sam went the distance.

It does appear, however, that Sam, an English winger who spent recent years as a Championship/League One fringe player, has the edge to be signed as the Red Bulls look to replace the traded Dane Richards:

Since dealing longtime right midfielder Dane Richards to Vancouver, the Red Bulls have had a glaring need for speed and lack of width, even if they didn’t initially realize it themselves. That’s why they had Quincy Amerikwa in on trial, and later Johann Smith; but it’s Sam that eventually got the nod.

Sam played 90 minutes in a reserve game against D.C. yesterday, and apparently showed enough in a week of practice and that loss against United to earn a deal.

For his part, Sam declined comment until the deal is finalized. But he’s right-footed, but can play on either wing, and that versatility makes him valuable.

“In this league, it’s very difficult just to buy specialists. You need versatile players because of the salary cap,’’ said Backe. “Hopefully he can play two or three different positions.’’

Today’s “this will make you feel old” note: it’s been over five years since Smith’s knee injury kept him off the U-20 roster headlined by Michael Bradley, Fred Adu, and Jozy Altidore.

In case you’ve lost track of the former U-20 winger’s journeys, the Connecticut native has played in or trailed in England, Canada, Croatia, Sweden, Romania, and the 3rd Liga of Germany. In March, he trialed with Wacker Burghausen, even playing some leftback with the 3rd Liga club. Last month, he scored a goal in a 16-0 friendly victory while on a tryout with Kickers Offenbach, also of the 3rd Liga.

It appears that the 3rd Liga was a bridge too far for Smith at this point, so he’s trying his luck with 1. FC Magdeburg of Regionalliga Nord (German 4th division). FCM was one of the stronger clubs back in the days of East German soccer, winning three DDR-Oberliga titles in a four-season span from 1972-1975 and seven FDGB-Pokal titles (East German Cup). They won the now-defunct UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in 1974, a run that involved wins over Sporting CP in the semifinals and AC Milan in the final. They also appeared in four different UEFA Cups (Europa League) in the 1980s. Alas, reunification has not been kind.

The official release from FCM inaccurately claims that Smith played in the USA (unless you count road matches with Toronto FC) and forgets his time in Sweden.

All these trials in Europa lead me to believe that there just isn’t interest in Smith from MLS right now. That’s surprisingly given how many teams struggle with wide play (and multiple teams have tried to install the 4-3-3 this year), but I don’t know that Smith has ever been the same post-knee injury.

So there looks to be something with Jozy Altidore’s tweet from yesterday as Greg Seltzer talked to AZ Alkmaar technical director (and former USMNT player) Earnie Stewart, who confirmed talks between the Dutch club and the 21-year-old forward.

“We are in talks with Jozy,” Stewart told MLSsoccer.com. “He’s a good player and we have interest in him, but we’ll have to see if it can work out. That can only happen if one of our strikers leave.”

Seltzer also got some quotes from Babajide Ogunbiyi’s people about his possible move to German side Karlsruher SC. It sounds like it depends on how much money Viborg FF is going to ask for regarding the transfer fee.

American-born (and dual citizen) defender Miguel Angel Ponce is inching closer to selecting Mexico as his national team as he was selected to Mexico’s roster for this summer’s Copa America. For those following his career, this is not a total shock since he would lose his spot at Chivas de Guadalajara since the club only fields Mexican nationals. But there goes another left back. . .

2010 Hermann Award finalist Colin Rolfe is getting some interest from Norwegian side Fredrikstad after impressing during a week-long training stint with the club. No contract has been offered as of yet, but it sounds like he turned some heads while over there.

His answer (in an email response) was, “We’ll have something to say later this week.” U.S. Soccer officials later said that Gulati’s one sentence response was not intended to imply that he was planning to make a coaching change.

While most people are not a fan of Bob right now, I still think Sunil will stick with him. That said, if there was ever a time to make a change, right now is probably the best chance before World Cup qualification begins next summer.

There is a report out of England this week that former Manchester United legend and current Molde FK manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has recommended to Sir Alex Ferguson to take a look at Josh Gatt and Sean Cunningham. I know the story says “trial”, but I am guessing it would be more of a “training” session. Everything is a “trial” these days.

Babajide Ogunbiyi, formerly of Viborg FF (where he had a generally strong season), is on trial with Karlsruher SC of the 2nd Bundesliga. You might recognize Karlsruher, 15th in the Bundesliga last year (two points clear of the relegation playoffs and four points behind Edson Buddle’s Ingolstadt 04), as the home of once-a-Nat goalkeeper Luis Robles. If the trial is successful, Ogunbiyi would join fellow Yanks David Yelldell, Buddle, Matt Taylor, Robles, and Ricardo Clark in the 2nd Bundesliga.

One American who is no longer in that 2nd Bundesliga is Amaechi Igwe. The former New England Revolution defender was released by Ingolstadt after failing to make any league appearances last year. He has joined 3. Liga club SV Babelsberg 03, who finished 12th of 20 clubs last year after being promoted from Regionalliga Nord in 2010-11. Americans in 3. Liga (off the top of my head) include Preston Zimmerman and potentially Johann Smith who, having failed to earn a contract in his trial with SV Wacker Burghausen a few months back, is on trial with 3. Liga’s Kickers Offenbach.

When we last checked in on Johann Smith, the well-traveled winger was on trial in Romania, having previously been in England, Canada, Croatia, and Sweden. The trial with Astra Ploieşti (and Smith’s attempts to help Americans conquer the former Ottoman Empire) was not successful, so Smith has recently been on trial with Wacker Burghausen, even shifting to leftback in an effort to make the 3rd Liga side.

Ex-Bolton and U.S. U-20 striker Johann Smith has reappeared. Having only made six league appearances since his release by Toronto FC in June 2009 (five with Rijeka in Croatia and one with Sweden’s Kalmar), the 23 year-old Connecticut native is now on trial with Astra Ploieşti in Romania. An article translated by our old friend Google:

American trialist Johann Smith continues to Giurgiu and will soon take a decision regarding the keeping of the Astra (Ploiesti or SUA) or waived of its services.

After earning promotion in 2008-09, Astra Ploieşti narrowly avoided relegation in its first season in Liga I. So far this year, they’re ninth in the 18-club league, although remarkably they’re just three points clear of the relegation zone, which includes teams 15th and below (currently, clubs 15th-17th are all tied at 18 points). It’s a relatively top-heavy league— Politehnica Timişoara is actually unbeaten (8-0-10) but only in 2nd place— and Astra Ploieşti has had some trouble scoring (just 19 goals in 18 matches) so Smith may have a chance to contribute. If nothing else, he can join with Jemal Johnson (Lokomotiv Sofia, Bulgaria), Freddy Adu (Rizespor, Turkey), and Jozy Altidore (Buraspor, Turkey) in the American quest to conquer former Ottoman Empire territories.

The other thing that caught me eye was that Kalmar used some weird clause in Johann Smith’s contract to opt out of the contract. He will become a free agent. I had been wondering if something was up since he has not been showing up in Kalmar’s lineup the last few weeks when I have been doing The OT Report.

The USMNT already have their first post-World Cup friendly set up. They will take on Brazil at the new Meadowlands Stadium on August 10.

Ives Galarcep of Soccer by Ives fame spent some time at the USMNT’s practice today and has a few observations. The most encouraging.

Among the other interesting pairings was Oguchi Onyewu and Jay DeMerit. Onyewu looked fast and confident, showing none of the tentativeness that seemed to creep out at times during Tuesday’s match vs. the Czechs. There was no limp to speak of, and on one sequence he raced upfield on the dribble, fended off two challenges and completed a pass. The sequence was impressive and leads me to believe he should have a better game on Saturday than he had on Tuesday.

And finally, US Soccer’s website has been posting tons of great videos in their multimedia section basically daily. They started up their “Studio 90″ show as well, which always has tons of interesting stuff. In the latest one, it shows the US’ recent trip to the White House, a piece on Landon Donovan’s time over at Everton and the different type of conditioning they have been going through at camp.

It is pretty refreshing to see an organization that is so open with the behind the scenes stuff. You never see this type of stuff with any NBA/MLB/NFL teams.

Forward Johann Smith, best known as the speedster who was hurt before the 2007 U-20 World Cup, has landed a new job playing for Kalmar FF in Sweden’s Allsvenskan. Kalmar is a strong side who finished 4th in the 2009 Allsvenskan and will enter the First Qualifying Round of the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League.

Since the injury Smith has had a rough go of it. He had made his Premier League debut with Bolton in 2006 at the age of 19, and after spending a few months on loan with Carlisle United had that injury. Since then he spent time on loan with Darlington and Stockport County before returning to North American and Toronto FC. He also made five appearances with HNK Rijeka in the Croatian Prva HNL so this will be his 4th contract and seventh club overall since graduating from the Bolton Wanderers academy.

Hopefully Johann can find some stability; other Americans have found success in Sweden.

Still think that he has a national team future? Despite his rough career so far, he is still only 22 (23 in April) which puts him at the same age as Alejandro Bedoya and the same age that Charlie Davies was in his breakout 2009 season.